What's Real Love Like?
by Hinata and Kiba 4ever
Summary: Vanessa believes she is meant to be with Innes. Can she really be so blind to the one man who truely loves her? VanessaForde oneshot. My first fic, so reviews wanted bigtime please!


**Story** : What's Real Love Like?  
**Author** : Hinata and Kiba 4ever  
**Genre** : Romance/General  
**Rating** : K+ (And that's just being incredibly cautious!)  
**Disclaimer** : No...I do not own Fire Emblem. If I did, than Gilliam, Duessel, and Knoll would have never made an appearence in the game!  
**Summary** : Vanessa believes that she is meant to be with Innes. How can she be so blind to the one man who truely loves her?  
**Forde/Vanessa oneshot: **Why?...Because I think these two are awesome together. I loved their support convos! So cute! I became extremely upset when I viewed the Vanessa/Innes support convos, as she seemed to love him a lot more. Innes is cool , but no! Vanessa belongs to Forde! Ahem...anyways...on to the fic!  
**Updated: **Special thanks to magebear7! Lmao! I'm so sorry about that. I was just in such a hurry to post this, I didn't read it over. That's not like me. So yeah...fixed that embarassing mistake, as well as a couple of other things.

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**What's Real Love Like?**

_Vanessa's P.O.V._

I have been watching him for a long time now, constantly impressed by his skills with the bow. I wanted to do the same. I wanted him to be impressed by my skills, so I constantly trained with Titania, becoming stronger. I wanted to protect him from all harm.

I wasn't sure why I felt this way. I guessed it was just my duty as a soldier. Yes, that's it. I was just being a good soldier. I swore an oath to King Hayden that I would lay down my life to protect the prince, and that's exactly what I was doing. Or…was I?

So naturally, like I did with most problems I faced, I went to my sister for help. Syrene was always right about things, so I knew I could believe in her advice. But when I told her these feelings of mine, the desire to become strong, she merely laughed, that warm smile on her face. I could tell from that smile that she was proud of me for some reason, though I was still mad. What was so funny? Don't all the soldiers of Freelia feel the same way I do?

My eyes couldn't have been wider when Syrene finally stopped laughing, and put on a more serious face, finally giving me my answer. Could it be true! Her advice had always been correct before, but the idea of me…I mean…is it possible?

I had to confirm Syrene's information. I had to find our prince. Luckily, he had a pretty set schedule, so it wouldn't be hard. Right now, he could usually be found out in the training grounds, practicing on the moving targets set up for him. So I took Titania out of her stable, gave her a hug around the neck, and took her to the training grounds.

Once we reached there, Titania bent low, expecting me to mount her. I quickly hopped aboard, and took my lance in my hand, giving off the impression that I was about to enter some serious training time. Instead, I led Titania over to the archery practice area. Titania wore a confused expression, and also started stomping her hoofs nervously, not liking the site of the arrows all over the place. I patted her head, assuring her everything was okay.

Innes heard the noise, and lifted his head up, seeing me comfort poor Titania. When I looked his way, he was still staring, probably confused about why I was in the wrong training area. If he was, he didn't show it, and merely smiled at me, and turned to face his target once again.

For a moment, I felt as if though I couldn't breath. Some strange feeling had washed over me. My heart had stopped when he had given me that smile, and I could feel my cheeks burning up. I couldn't believe it. I had fallen for our prince.

After that day, my love for him grew and grew, each and every moment I spent near him. But in the back of my head, a little voice kept telling me to forget about it. After all, what chance did a normal soldier have at winning my prince's affection? But I didn't care…his company was enough to keep me happy. I think…

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It was a while afterwards, a bit after we learned about Grado's attack on Renais, that I finally was traveling with Prince Innes himself, along with many other soldiers on an official mission. I felt so proud of all the progress I had made as a soldier, my skills now being close to that of Syrene's! Titania was also happy due to all the time she could spend with the other two Pegasus's.

My love for our prince had not evaporated in the least, actually growing more than it had been, if that was possible. There were unfortunately, two things wrong with this love.

The first, was the fact that my prince's affections seemed to already belong to someone else. Princess Erika, of Renais, with her long flowing hair, and her skillful sword play, caused the prince to act in a completely different manner whenever she was around. Innes actually even took orders from her, which was incredibly rare, even if she was technically the leader of our army.

Then, there was this one cavalier in our army. He seemed to always be around me during battle, shouting to me when arrows were headed my way. Archers were always the first enemies he would take down. It confused me to no end when he would gallop past mages, assassins, and any other soldiers, without even really noticing them, just to reach the archers who could usually be found in the back of the armies.

Though it didn't take me long to figure out what it was, due to me taking similar actions for our prince. I could tell he was obviously very attached to me. I wasn't sure how to react to this though.

One day, I spotted him laying on the ground. My heart skipped a beat, afraid of what I might find when I dived to ground to check. But once I got there, my expression immediately turned into one of disgust, not believing my eyes. He was completely unscathed, and wore a peaceful expression on his face. His chest moved slowly up and down as he breathed. HE WAS SLEEPING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLE!

I tried to wake him up, shaking him gently, and calling his name, but he just continued to snooze. I shook my head, and decided to just leave him there. I boarded Titania, and flew away. After a while though, my thoughts returned back to him, and I began to think of all the horrible things that could happen to him. I couldn't just abandon another soldier, no matter how careless he may be. But when I reached the spot where he had been, he was no longer there. His horse was also gone, which was a relief, leaving it safe to assume that he had merely awoken and left.

Later in our journey to save the sacred stones, I had a rather private conversation with both my prince, as well as the lazy cavalier.

I'm not sure how it happened, but one day, while riding by his side, I began to talk to Innes, retelling the story of that time during one of his birthday parties, in which he had shot three movie targets at the same time. He smirked as I continued to compliment him on that performance, and once I had quieted, told me he needed no praise for such an easy exhibition trick. He did however, seem amazed that I had remembered such a small thing, from such a long time ago. I began to blush furiously, my mind racing. I had to tell him…I could never get anywhere with him if he never even knew of my feelings. But how would he react. I decided it didn't matter…I had to be brave.

So I told him what I had told Syrene a long time ago, on how I've always been watching him. Also about my desire to be near him, and protect him from all harm. I believe he understood what I was really trying to tell him, though he was never good when it came to romance, so his face flushed thoroughly. After the initial shock though, he smiled at me, that same heart melting smile from long ago, and told me haw he wanted to get to know me better. Not the soldier side of me, as he already knew all about that, but the woman side of me.

From that day on, I was in bliss. Even in the midst of battle, I soared through hails of arrows and took down many Grado soldiers with a bright and almost carefree attitude. Everyone noticed my lightened mood, though they couldn't figure out why, and didn't ask. However, there was one man who brought me out of the sweet bliss, and brought me into total confusion.

My clumsy protector walked over to me on day at camp. He sat down beside me, near the fire, his long blonde hair shining by the firelight. As usual, he had that cheerful look on his face…he never did seem to be depressed, unless talk of his deceased mother was brought up. At first, he allowed the silence between us to continue, merely staring into the fire. But it didn't last long, before he began to speak, which is what threw me in for a surprise. He informed me that he knew about my meeting with him that one day he had been asleep under the tree. I tried to act like I didn't know what he was talking about, but he merely chuckled when I did. I was never a good liar.

But what he talked about next made my head spin with mixed emotions. He began to talk about an energy that he had felt during that meeting while he slept. He told me that it was my energy he had felt, and it had brought a calm and enjoyable feeling to him. At first I had no reply, and just stood there staring at him. He than asked me if I would like to feel his energy! It was that question that caused me to stand up and practically run over to my tent which I entered, my face redder than ever. I know I probably should have said something, but what kind of question was that? Didn't I have the right to leave him after that?

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I sat quietly in one of the many rows of chairs, watching Erika slowly make her way up the isle. She was truly a sign of beauty in her amazing silk white dress, her hair gleaming, her face holding a look of pure joy. My attention was then diverted to the groom standing in front of Moulder, who was wedding the two together. My prince looked absolutely spectacular in his black tuxedo, his hair a bit tidier than usual, his hands wringing nervously together.

My prince was so happy, his dream finally coming true, so naturally, I couldn't help but also be happy…for him. But at the same time, I was rather upset with both myself and him. What was all that about wanting to get to know the woman in me? All of those times he had flirted with me, or what I had thought of as flirting…were they just an act he had played? Was I merely used as a backup in case things did not work out with Erika?

But I was much more angered by myself, and my blindness. How could I have not seen this? How obvious could it have been that he really loved Erika? I was the one who led myself on to believe we actually had something, not Innes.

I was now at the reception, watching many couples dance to the currently lively music that was playing, all of them with looks of cheer and affection on their faces. I soon had enough though, not being able to take much more of it. I stood and made my way to the balcony, wanting some fresh air.

On my way there, I saw a table with three people sitting at it, which caught my attention, and caused me to stop for a moment. Kyle and Lute were sitting together, chatting. Kyle began to laugh, probably due to something weird Lute had said again.

I was incredibly happy for those two. They seemed perfect for one another, both always acting so serious, and rarely ever joking. But after they had spent some time with each other, they both managed to lighten up, and were now both much easier to get along with. Of course, I had befriended Lute long before Kyle had started dating her, so I had been a great help in getting her to lighten up. I couldn't help but laugh as Lute blushed, Kyle still laughing at whatever she had said.

But that was not what caught my attention. The third person was none other than my own guardian knight. He sat there, happy as ever, and seemingly just as alone as I was at the time. A thought suddenly came to my mind, but I quickly shook it off. I could do no such thing. It would be just like what Innes did to me. I could not run to my night and ask him for a dance just because I could no longer have my prince. I would not stoop to my princes level.

I instead walked out into the cold night air, stepping out onto the balcony, which luckily for me, was currently unoccupied. I walked over to the edge, and leaned on the railing, staring up into the starry sky. A cool breeze blew past me, causing me to shiver a bit. A sound from behind me startled me for a second, before I realized it was merely the squeaking balcony door opening. I turned and took a sharp intake of breath when I saw my knight standing in front of me. The look of genuine sympathy on his face only caused me to feel even worse. What had I done?

I turned around in guilt, and looked at my feet. Then, I felt his hand lay on my shoulder, which caused me to jump slightly, and turn my head to the left so I could stare into his startling green eyes. Eyes that were filled with affection and care. His stunning voice called out my name, and then apologized about what was happening to me, and told me that Innes did not know what he was giving up. I couldn't believe it. After how rude I had been to him when he had told me his feelings, and all the times I just tried to avoid him, he still wasn't mad at me. He still cared for me.

I couldn't take it anymore. I turned and ran into his arms, wrapping mine around him, sobbing. He soon wrapped his around me, returning the hug.

As I stayed there, being comforted by his strong, but at the same time gentle embrace, I experienced a feeling I had never felt before. What do you know, Syrene had been wrong about something. Perhaps she was not as reliable as she used to be. I had never loved Innes…not truly anyways. It had all just been some childish crush. This new feeling I decided I did not need Syrene's help to interpret. This…was real love.

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4ever : Well, how did you like it? I really hope lots of people review. Like I said, this is my first fic that I've posted up, so please tell me what I can do better for next time, but please don't be too mean.  
Ewan : Your asking for two completely different things you dumby!  
4ever : You know...for such a cute little kid...you can be a real brat.  
Tethys : Ewan...are you bothering 4ever again?  
Ewan : Uh oh...  
Lute : Tethys is going to go mad. Anyways, like 4ever said, please review. It's only natural that you should if you're being asked to by a prodigey like myself!  
Kyle : Excuse us... (Kyle drags Lute away, who continues to brag)  
4ever : Um...that was different... 


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